There are so
many ways in which this film fails; I don’t want to accidentally encourage more
of this behavior from future filmmakers by pointing out the few things that it
does right. The last thing that we needed is another found footage horror film,
even one that thinks outside of the box. And even in some creative plot twists,
the unpleasantness of the presentation in the last half of the film far
outweighs any elements of creativity. Not nearly as complex as it likes to think
it is, not as scary as it had the potential to be, and not enjoyable enough to
recommend to even die-hard genre fans, Mr. Jones is mostly just an annoying
bore.
Young couple Scott and Penny (Jon Foster and
Sarah Jones) retreat to a remote cabin in the woods for a period of creative
inspiration. Scott plans to make a documentary film, though no particular plans
or topic of choice before escaping to the middle of nowhere. He basically just
seems to bring the camera along in order to video tape his random thoughts and
all of the happenings in his relationship with Penny. It gets obnoxious when
the camera is filming them in the middle of the night as they sleep. At least Paranormal Activity gave something of an
explanation for the cameras filming at night. Mr. Jones dismisses logic early on in the film, never looking back
as the film dives deeper into absurd territory.
Scott begins to
slip into depression when he realizes that he has no idea what he is making a
movie about. At times during Mr. Jones
I couldn’t help but wonder is this was a transparent sentiment shared by Karl
Mueller at the lack of focus within his own film. Fortunately for Scott, Karl,
and arguably the audience, a topic for each film is chosen in the mysterious
artist called Mr. Jones. This unknown artist sends sculptures to random people
across the world, and Scott and Penny happen to accidentally have discovered
him in the wilderness.
I won’t give
away any more of the plot out of respect to the filmmaker. The fact that there
was a shift in the direction for the second half of the film does not
necessarily mean it gets any better. It is still like two bad movies, but the
best part is the surprise in shifting directions. The Blu-ray has no special
features.
Entertainment Value:
5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 4/10
Historical
Significance: 1/10
Special Features: 0/10
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